TEAMWORK

We the team had decided to compete in this years ANCC Comp Safari
Championship. Peter had competed at Tong and put in some good run times.
I now had the enviable task of taking the motor back to base to recheck ready
for the next event at Claxby in Lincolnshire. Storing the motor where I work
meant I was able to spend some 'off duty' time on the recheck. What I hadn't
reckoned on was all the baked on mud and other associated junk that one
acquires on the tracks of Tong. We have buckets at work, that will hold about
5 or 6 gallons (that's 22 or 27 litres in new money) to which I filled about 3 of
these with lumps of MUD. After I'd moved the motor, and with a bit more
prodding underneath, two more bucketful's were shovelled up and removed.
This was then followed by removing the wheels one at a time and pressure
washing anything else that got in the way. I had now found the chassis!
Don't you just love playing in the mud... ARGHHHH

As Claxby was to be a night Comp as well as a day Comp, some sort of extra
lighting was probably going to be a great help. No expense was to be spared
for the extra spotlights , as long as the bill came to less than £10 for
everything. No problem, wiring, four spotlights, switch, relay and bracketry.
(all very high tech' Eh)

Peter had been poorly of late and so couldn't help out as he usually does, but
surprise, surprise, when all was nearly finished, he arrived from Washington
(Geordie Country) to assist in certain tasks still to be done.

Where I keep my trailer is next door to a concrete flooring company. I had
agreed to lend them my trailer in order that they could return a dumper back
to their yard. All went well, ramps on and off it went.
Upon its return I saw their tow- motor pull down, and 1 do mean 'down' a
slope and then level off with the trailer loaded down with the dumper strapped
on the back. A few minutes later I walked across to enquire if all was well. I
remarked about the tyres which looked almost flat. Andrew (the borrower)
said "that was only a minor problem" and invited me to "take a look at the
draw-bar" This WAS a substantial piece of tube that ran from the tow hitch all
the way back to the front axle of the trailer. It was NOW bent upwards by
about 2 feet (tow hitch end) next to the decking. I enquired about the weight

of the dumper, before looking into the dumper's bucket to find it full of

broken concrete slabs, about a ton in weight!!! 3

What could t say to this young man who'd slightly overloaded my trailer and

modified it beyond belief... how about Oh Dear !

Needless to say the trailer now sports a new hitch and a new A-Frame.

Claxby weekend is now upon us. A friend of Andrews offers to tow the
motor down to Claxby for us on Friday night, which meant we could follow
on with the caravan on Saturday morning. We duly arrived on site and pitched
up beside Peter and Fiona and began to set up our encampment.
Walkies were the order of the day to watch some of the RTV sections and
gossip to some of the competitors and navigators.
We just scraped through scrutineering again, ready for the CCV trial, and
Peter was now a few pounds lighter £££. While he went playing I borrowed
his wife to go and walk the comp course. Well that's what I told him and
Heather!

We never really tell them what we actually do, but who would?
The Irwin tribe recently acquired an addition to the household, namely
"Milly" the dog. Another female as headstrong and as cantankerous as the rest
of them. While we're out walking the course, the dog starts to pull a bit harder
on its lead, snaps it, and races off thinking that it's a super long one. Fiona
looks at the broken lead and starts to chase after the dog. As I'm not the
running or jogging type, 1 yelled at Fiona to drop them,.. her rucksack and
coat that is. As I had worn her out previously and realising that the dog was a
little faster than she was, she stopped running, at the same time the dog
stopped, turned, and came running back to us. This same animal had escaped
its lead previously on Saturday, and I have to admit mat, as Peter put it, "a
fine rugby tackle" it would have been had I not missed the dog, but succeeded
in merely trapping the lead beneath my body.

Sunday night is soon upon us and 1 take my Discovery to the top of the pits
area- loaded with all sorts of possible spares, just in case of a need for them.
Peter had previously bought himself a racing overall, one of those fire
resistant types. These I too wore now with a serious reminder not to get any
oil or grease on them which apparently ruins their fire resistance. 1 only had a
total of two other items of clothing on under them, and it doesn't take a lot of
working out, does it?

Four runs to be attempted and why oh why does it seem to take ages to start
your first run and by now it has started to rain.

We are off at last, down the hill into the little wood and along its bottom edge.
A lack of traction or is it my driving isn't helping progress, we ascend a hill to
get out onto the long top field, I thought "now off we go" Think again
sunbeam, as we put the power down we start snaking (that's meandering
across the track from side to side) A right turn at the end of the field and down
toward a track/bridleway, go down here fast at your peril ! Turn left and
meander along the roughest part of the course. Keep towards the top side as
the bottom side is more like a mud run. Up the lull heading for the large top
field and its multitude of chicanes, turns and long straights. Near to the finish
was a hazard which we didn't take too fast if only to save our backs
(geriatrics). We had seen a motor cartwheel about three times at this point.
On the second run, we had negotiated the boggy bit and were onwards toward
the faster sections using overdrive in places. All of as sudden a LOUD
crunching noise starts to assault our ears, even with the crash helmets on.
With less power being used progress was still possible. We stopped off the
course and began to smell hypoid gear oil. A swift look underneath with the
aid of a torch revealed a damp patch on the exhaust pipe. We decided to limp
back to the finish if we could. We jumped back in the motor, belts on, helmets
on, start up, into gear and off we go... NO MOVEMENT. The trouble with
Land Rovers is all the many gear levers to play with; high-neutral-low, four
forward and reverse, in overdrive- neutral- out of overdrive. I discovered that
the overdrive had shifted itself into neutral. By now getting slightly agitated
and desperately trying to remember where the in and out parts were. One part
of the overdrive gave us NO GO and the other giving us forward movement.
Back at the pits it was out with the ground sheet. I then remembered about not
getting the race overalls dirty. Out of the Discovery came a pair of ordinary
overalls. Yes I know it's a family sport but one pair of overall s had to come
off and the other ones had to go on, and with the air being on the cold side of
warm, 1 certainly didn't linger!! There were other competitors about but no
comments were forthcoming.

Dave and Carol McGivern had arrived by this time. Dave dived underneath
and promptly announced the overdrive casing ******** broken. 1 went to
survey the damage with a bowl to collect the oil, only to find small parts of
gears draining into it. We decided to get the motor back down to the caravan,
where we took the decision to go back to Halifax (West Yorkshire), for parts
to mend the gearbox ready for the day runs.

Just turned midnight 12.30, Fiona and I left Claxby for Halifax. We arrived at
the garage at 02,00am, rummaged around for various parts, a quick coffee and
off we head back down to Claxby. We arrived back, I had a bottle of beer and
went to bed at 04.30am. Peter got up at 06.30 to start to mend the motor so

I'm told. He came knocking on my door at 07.45 to say he needed my
expertise in getting a circlip on. Don't you just love a lie in sometimes!
Motor mended, time to fire up the generator to charge up the battery, me
thinks I could do with some of that.

Eight runs to complete the day runs. On one of the runs the cab fills up with
steam. We pull off the track, pop the bonnet to find water spewing out of a
broken top hose. It's at times like these you're thought turn to "where's your
pit crew when you want them" the answer is, turn around and they shall
appear as if by command, and there they were. David went off searching for
water, peter undid the jubilee clip, I pulled off the broken hose with a pair of
pliers to allow the hose to go back on. Fiona and Claire ripped out the washer
bottle from the back of the motor and passed it to Peter to refill the cooling
system. Carol produced a small bottle of water, which I thanked her for and
then proceeded to drink its contents. Only to be told it was supposed to be for
the cooling system! What a waste.
Teamwork rules again!!!

Back to the pits again, fuel up and back to the line for another run. We're just

about to approach the start lights when Chief Marshal ambles across to say

that " according to their/his/her calculations all our runs had been completed.

OK

So off we went back to the pits where we picked up all our belongings and

retreated back to our caravans to recuperate and pack up ready to go home.

Thanks once again to Lines LRC for another "reet gud doo".

Michael Chaloner

LRW NORTHERN CCV CHALLENGE
 

ROUND 1

On a rain soaked in the hills above Crossbills in West Yorkshire, the first round
of the Northern CCV Challenge took place.

The Editor of Land Rover World, John Carroll, who sponsors the Championship
was amazed that 47 drivers turned up. Pennine Land Rover Club played host for
this round, and chose Crossbills for the venue; it is a grass covered site with
rocks as big as the vehicles that were competing. The land is quite near the sun
and definitely in the clouds and still rises 300 feet from top to bottom. What a
mix of vehicles we had. Suzuki's, Series 1,2 & 3's Bob-tailed Range Rovers
and even a Suzuki impersonating a Series 1 Land Rover. The representation of
Clubs were as varied as the marques. Besides the local Pennine members,
drivers came from Yorkshire, Red Rose, Cumbria, Humberside and
Lincolnshire as well as drivers from the Northern Counties Off Road Triallers
Club (NCORTC).

The clerks of the course marked out 15 sections of mixed terrain, 14 were used
and one kept for a run off, if the scores were level at the end of the day. The
weather had a bearing on the final results; the rain kept coming and increased its
pace at lunchtime, making the driven routes slippery,
After everyone had passed scrutineering and signed on, the 47 starters were
lined up in 5 groups; unfortunately the grouping was self chosen and like
vehicles finished up together.

It turned out to be one of those trials where size didn't matter; the gates were
wide enough and placed in positions that the ground gained the penalties more
than hitting the markers. In the afternoon when the ground was damp, some of
the drivers wished they'd had a bit more power, as the V8's took command.

One of the host club's drivers, Andrew Darwent was putting his 88" coiler in
places the others only wished they could. This was only his second trial after
flirting with safariing.

Only one section was not cleared by someone but then many only dropped one
point, all the other sections were cleared by at least one driver. Most of them, 11
to be exact, were cleared by Andrew Darwent on his way to a clear victory.
The leaf sprung vehicles were in two separate classes, under 81" and above.
This type of vehicle accounted for a third of the total entry, and half of the top
five overall places.

The best of the leafers was a 1.4 Suzuki driven by Mark Barren (NCORTC). He
only dropped 31 penalties all day, including a 10 on section 11 where the
majority of drivers did. Equal second with Lee Brindle was Tony Somerfield
(LINCS) who had travelled 107 miles to compete in this championship. He
drove his Series 1 80" well, despite dropping 14 points due to a badly
positioned and slippery accelerator pedal. Lee Brindle drove one of the nicest
sounding motors there; his 2.2TC Series 1 88" was set up perfectly. The host
club driver beat fellow club member Karl Blackledge by a single point.
One driver who caught my eye was Nigel Calvert in his 80". Nigel drives and
wins most Pennine trials with no front hoop, but makes each section look like a
Sunday outing, one of life's trialling naturals. He didn't register for the
championship but finished the highest placed leaf sprung vehicle on the day.
The coil sprung vehicles were classed according to wheel-base, 88" and over,
and the rest were all shorter than that. As expected the winner came from these
classes. After Andrew Darwent had thrashed the opposition with 16 points. The
next was Kevin Bower on 20 in his 80" Land Rover.
Kevin will still be cursing that 10 gate on section 15 that most drivers cleared
with ease, but that's trialling!

It was strange to see vehicles with no front hoop and welded steering parts
competing in a CCV after mainly watching ARC trials. Probably that's why I
saw no rolls; this trial was marked out to test the drivers skill against the terrain,
the drivers bottle and to test how much lean an off- reader will go before it rolls.
With nearly 50 entries of mixed abilities and types of vehicles it was certainly
what the drivers wanted. When this type of weather can't dampen the spirits,
nothing could, except a bad trial, and this did not fit into that category. Well
done to all the organisers for a good day and what should be a championship.

Story by Steve Wells.
Reproduced by kind permission of Off Road Motorsport Magazine

Round two of the ANCC championship was hosted by Line's LRC
as part of their three day event at Claxby. We decided to go on the
Saturday so that we could get scrutineered in good time and then
relax with a few bevies. Sunday would then be spent sobering up
before competing in the night comp on Sunday night and Monday.
That was the plan anyway...

Things started to go wrong more or less straight away. Me and
navigator Jonny were about two hours late setting off due to being
rubbish at shopping! We then proceeded to get lost in Market
Rasen before eventually finding the site and meeting up with Kev
Baldwin. He told us that we'd all been instructed to leave our trailers
and comp motors in the farmers yard as he didn't want us on the
camping field. By the time we'd arrived the yard was already filling
up and it was difficult finding space to unload and park the trailer
and racer. By the time we'd finished messing around we'd missed
the Saturday scrutineering. Adie and Greg turned up with their
motors and after they'd unloaded we all set up camp near to John
Nelson's caravan to form a "Pennine" camp.

After the evening barbie we made for the famous Line's beer tent
where we were taken hostage and found ourselves unable to leave,
until its forcefield mysteriously switched itself off around 2am.
5 hours later it was farty sleeping bags all round and eyes like
Japanese snipers.

Adie, Greg and me all failed scrutineering on Sunday morning.
Kev's immaculately prepared motor passed first time of course!
My motor failed on a seat belt harness mounting point which had
been recently moved to accommodate my new, size TB' Motordrive
seats. The scrutineer said "that's no good, whoever welded that has
only done one side, and the other weld is s**t anyway... you'll have
to find someone with a welder and get it redone ...properly!"
"I'll give him a right bollocking when I see him" I squeaked, red
faced, the words bathroom and mirror sprung to mind!
He also got me for a leaky fuel pump union and a small teak where
the fuel return pipe went into the tank. Adie had to change both

engine mountings, which he was fortunate enough to 'bum' off a
kind fellow Pennine member. Greg had to sort out his non self-
seating fuel cap breather.

I myself am grateful to Andy Davies of Bowter Wildcat 200 'fame' for
rescuing me from the pooper and re-welding my sparrow s**t
bracket. The other jobs were sorted easily enough and eventually
we all got our 'Pass' tickets.

Sunday late afternoon we all walked the 2.5 mile course which was
slightly different from last year. The first part turned down and
crossed a hillside which was bumpy and slippy. It then climbed
steeply up a short bank and then through a fence, round a hairpin
and then back down to traverse the lower part of the hill where it
was slippy but the gates were very wide. After another climb, there
was a shallow but wide gully, after that it was all pretty flat and open
with man-made comers and hairpins. There were one or two ruts
and Jumps to catch out the unwary before reaching the finish.

Come the evening of the night comp we couldn't be arsed to take
our other motors carrying all our spares, tools and fuel to the top of
the long track where the start was located. We figured that if we
needed anything we'd just drive back down to the camp-site. No
problem until... they announced at the drivers briefing that the lane
would be closed for the duration of the night comp. DOH !
We were also told that we all had 2 1/2 hours to get all 4 runs in and
there'd be no seeding. It was leafers first and then every man for
himself. The brighter competitors had queued early so they could
get a run in white it was still light. While we were wasting time
watching the first motors off the line the pits area was getting
gridlocked.

Jonny my navigator for the weekend, was on his first night comp
and was absolutely dumping himself. I'd been winding him up all
week, telling him that if we crashed, it would be all his fault. Poor
fella was going on holiday the following week!
We managed to get our 4 runs in but seemed to be getting slower,
with the engine developing a misfire above 3,500 revs which
seemed to be getting worse. On some of the climbs I was having to
drop down into first gear in order to get up the hills.

Kev and Adie were putting in some good times but Adie came
limping back into the pits after his first run with fuel pouring out of
the overflow on one of his carbs. It looked like a stuck needle valve,
but there was no time to start to strip down the carbs especially in
the dark, with no tools... and it was raining. To say that Adie was
pi**ed off is an understatement, even kicking his motor didn't seem
to cure the problem.

With an early start to make repairs... another 2am session seemed
to be in order!

In the morning I virtually changed the entire ignition system but still
couldn't trace the misfire. Adie had better luck, he stripped his carb
and found a piece of plastic from the fuel filter stuck in the valve
seat and soon had it running again. Kev had a lie in while Tracy
cooked his breakfast and his Dad, Stuart changed a shocker on
their racer. The jammy bugger will be staying in a hotel and flying in
by helicopter next!

The day comp was set for 8 runs to be done in 5 hours from your
start time. We got back from our first run with water and steam
gushing out of our radiator overflow, probable head gasket failure
(which would account for the misfire) and my comp was over.

Kev offered me a run round as passenger in his motor. My
persistent hints had at last paid off, his motor is basically the same
as mine but his times are much faster. I wanted to know why.
After one buttock clenching run I found out why... Gonad size.
His are obviously much larger than mine ! Where I would back off
he would just boot it. He has his own tailor in Hebden Bridge who
makes his fancy-Dan racesuits to order, with a special extra large
gonad pouch... allegedly, I understand a neck brace for the old
turkeys neck is proving to be a bit more of a problem though...

Kev managed to finish all his runs in time. Greg made it as far as
his penultimate run with no problems until his dutch started slipping
and had to coax his motor through to the end. Adie ripped a front
flexi hose off but with a clever bit of re-piping of the twin pot
calipers, he managed to finish in time.

In all another good do,     Dave Cookson 408

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